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Updated: Sep 18, 2026
Driving Simulation in the Clinic: Testing Visual Exploratory Behavior in Daily Life Activities in Patients with Visual Field Defects
Published on: September 18, 2012
Visual field and driving performance of individuals with inherited retinal disorders: a scoping review
Xanthe E Bell1,2, John R Grigg3,2,4, Clare L Fraser3,2,4
1Save Sight Institute Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia xhar0539@uni.sydney.edu.au.
Objective:
Maintaining a drivers' licence is an important patient-reported outcome. Conditions resulting in peripheral vision loss such as inherited retinal disorders (IRDs) can result in loss of licence due to an inadequate horizontal visual field (VF) extent. There are currently no international visual standards for licensing and current testing protocols outlined in licensing guidelines and conducted in out-patient clinics may not adequately reflect or predict on-road driving performance. The present study undertakes a scoping review of the VF of individuals with an IRD and their driving status and/or performance. It aims to determine the proportion of individuals who either meet the VF licensing requirements or pass a driving test and the impact of VF extent.
Methods And Analysis:
193 publications from online databases and other sources were identified, of which three publications met the inclusion criteria for the review. Publications were from two countries and included studies which measured driving performance based on collision records and driving simulator performance.
Results:
Only level 4 evidence was available on the topic, including two case-control studies and one cross-sectional study.
Conclusion:
One study reported 36% of retinitis pigmentosa patients met the VF licencing requirements. There was inconclusive evidence regarding the impact of VF extent on driving performance, with one study finding that VF extent was predictive of driving performance, and other findings did not correlate.
